Rex’s Tattoo: That One Is Going to Leave A Mark

A part of me wants to say that this is just Gary Myers’ TROLL SO HARD University schtick. Part of me wants to say it’s Rex’s body, that it’s his prerogative to do with as he wants. Part of me wants to ask if this is just a gag he did on a dare during a rolicking drunken night with his wife. Part of me wants to know if he did for the sake of Mark as a way to buoy his beleagured quarterback. Part of me wants to know if it’s some sort of short term memory kickstarter … if you will, a Memento-esque way for him to never forget the trauma and lessons of the 2012 season in his never ending quest to find out how his career was murdered. Part of me wants to say it’s sort of noble … even if it is a tragically inbred and dimwitted sort of nobility …

Part of me.

But the other part of me is going banonkers.

MARK SANCHEZ?!?!?

It couldn’t be #12?!? Something CLASSIC AND INARGUABLE?

NOPE.

Why didn’t he just go get a Vernon Gholston tattoo? That at least would be ironic. This is one is simply tragic.

The only thing I can liken it to is how Eric Mangini would name his children after players on the team in a desperate attempt to relate to players.

Imagine you are a Jets player today. Imagine some friend sends you that picture – probably in an attempt to mock you. How would you feel if you were on the 2012 team and you just saw that? Your coach got some ink with a player’s number on the team, but not yours. Your coach wrote an corpuscular open letter to anyone to see that yes, in fact he does put one player above the rest of the team. You start to put 2012 in larger perspective. Your coach had questionable judgement all season about who his starting quarterback should be to “give the best chance to win.” Should it be the guy who he had indelibly inked onto his bicep covering his wife’s torso? Players just want to win, and Sanchez was doing his best to prevent that from happening … now you see this tattoo?

Personally? I would be fuming. If I was a backup quarterback, I’d probably insight open insurrection. I’d go off the reservation and lay waste to the coaching staff. I’d share every dirty little secret about the 2012 team and I wouldn’t feel any remorse for doing so.

Can he keep any credibility with his players after this? Can the ownership and upper management turn a blind eye to this? The whole thing about keeping Rex this offseason has been about his control on the players – how they never gave up for him all season. Is that still even possible?